Chapter 186

　　Pang Jun, who had carried out many assassination missions, certainly would not set fire to the forest himself. He took the opportunity of hunting to set up timed ignition switches in many jungles, and then followed the large group of young people back to the palace, because the emperor would hold a dinner here tonight to entertain his ministers.

　　At about 5 p.m., "Your Majesty has arrived."

　　Following the announcement from the usher, Emperor Yang Shao, accompanied by Empress Tang Yulin, and niece Nan Xiangwu and Nan Feifei, walked into the palace from a side door, followed by several eunuchs.

　　Tang Yulin was as cold and dignified as ever, making people feel they were out of reach. Nan Xiangwu, as the imperial concubine, always maintained her charming look. Her exaggerated breasts and hips made many young men present dare not look directly at her for fear of making a fool of themselves. As for Nan Feifei, she was not qualified to be here, but could not resist the emperor's favor for her, so he broke the rules and allowed her to be present as well.

　　Seeing the emperor coming, all the guests in the hall stopped talking, stood up and bowed: "We greet your majesty, and wish our emperor a long life."

　　"Stand up." Yang Shao waved his hand, and helped Tang Yulin and the other two girls to the main seat. Then he sat in the middle and said to the ministers with a smile: "Today, the emperor and his ministers are having fun together. Let's put aside those complicated rituals and enjoy ourselves!"

　　Upon seeing this, all the guests in the hall took their seats one after another, except Crown Prince Yang Zhi, who remained standing. He raised his hands and clapped them twice.

　　All of a sudden, bells and drums rang, music began, and two teams of young women in thin silk skirts came in from outside the hall with light steps. They danced gracefully in the center of the palace to liven up the banquet.

　　At the same time, the eunuchs also led some women to bring dishes and presented them on the table in front of Yang Shao and the guests in the hall.

　　It must be said that the dishes at today's banquet were extremely rich. It took a full half hour just to serve the dishes, so much so that Pang Jun felt a little sorry for the young women dancing in the hall.

　　After most of the dishes were served, the young women who had been dancing slowly left the main hall, and the music stopped temporarily - according to the rules, Yang Shao should give a toast and be the first to pick up his chopsticks before the other guests could start eating.

　　"I've said that there won't be any complicated rituals today." Yang Shao complained, causing laughter in the hall. After a moment of contemplation, he raised the wine jar in his hand and said solemnly: "I wish my Great Jin a prosperous and everlasting country!"

　　Hearing this, all the guests in the hall raised their glasses and echoed in unison: "I wish our Great Jin Kingdom prosperity and eternal generations!"

　　After the ceremony, the music sounded again, and a group of young women walked into the hall and danced to liven up the atmosphere.

　　At this moment, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became heated. No matter whether there were conflicts among the guests in the past, at this moment, everyone was toasting each other, or feasting on the dishes displayed on the table, or appreciating the dance of the young women in the center of the hall, or flirting with the ladies who were drinking with them. I believe that most of the people present felt that their trip was worthwhile.

　　At this time, the sky was gradually getting dark, but the atmosphere in the main hall of the Central Palace did not diminish at all, especially when the usurper reported Yang Shao's gains during the imperial hunt this time, there was a burst of praise in the hall, and Yang Shao, whose body shape had seriously changed, was praised as if he were the number one warrior of the Great Jin Kingdom.

　　After Yang Shao, the usher also reported the gains of other people. Only then did Pang Jun know that there was an activity during the imperial hunting to compare the number of prey. The first few people who hunted the most prey would be fortunate enough to receive a personal item from the emperor, probably a jade pendant or something. Although the jade pendant itself was not valuable, it was believed that the people who participated in this activity also valued the significance of this imperial gift rather than the jade pendant itself.

　　After an unknown amount of time, most of the guests in the central palace had eaten and drunk their fill, and were flirting with the girls who had accompanied them for drinks. At this time, Qin Wanjun, the commander of the imperial guards, walked up to the emperor and whispered in his ear for a while. Yang Shao frowned and answered a few words, then Qin Wanjun left. Pang Jun knew that the timed ignition mechanism he had made had begun to take effect, and his eyes quietly began to wander among the guests around him, trying to figure out who was the mastermind behind what had happened tonight.

　　About half an hour later, everyone heard faint noises coming from outside the hall. At first, the guests in the hall did not pay attention, but when the noises outside became more and more obvious, the guests felt something was wrong, and the hall suddenly became quiet.

　　And in this silence, the noise outside the hall became even clearer - in addition to roars and curses, there were also sounds such as weapons clashing.

　　"What's going on?" "What's going on outside the hall?" "What happened?" The guests in the hall suddenly became panicked.

　　"Your Majesty? This..." King Wei Yang Tong looked at his royal brother in shock. He instinctively felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on why.

　　It's not that he doubted Yang Shao. After all, as the emperor of Da Jin, he had no reason to attack the many guests in the palace during such a grand event as the Imperial Hunt. You know, the princes, nobles, and dignitaries who participated in the Imperial Hunt accounted for almost half of the nobles in the capital of Da Jin. It is no exaggeration to say that if anything went wrong with this palace, Da Jin would almost fall apart.

　　"Are you trying to eliminate us?" Wei Yanqing, the head of the famous Wei family in Beijing, asked in a low voice to Duke of Zheng Wei Jinglue. Everyone knows that the emperor is wary of famous and powerful families, and he has repeatedly suppressed the famous families in Beijing and the powerful families in the world.

　　"Be patient." Wei Jinglie shook his head firmly. He didn't believe that Emperor Yang Shao would do such a thing. He also remembered what his enchanting daughter said when he was leaving the house: I'm afraid something big will happen on this trip to Quyang Mountain. The daughter doesn't know who is behind the scenes, but as long as the father doesn't intervene, there will be no danger. Remember this.

　　Facing the question from Wei Wang Yang Tong, Yang Shao first calmed down the panicked Nan's aunt and nephew and Tang Yulin, then he glanced at the guests present and said calmly, "It's okay. I'm afraid some rats want to disrupt today's feast. We'll soon know who they are."

　　At this time, Cao Tianlin, the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, who was sitting at the table in the hall, stood up, clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, let me go and find out what's going on." After that, he walked out of the line-up and strode towards the hall door, but after a few steps, he suddenly stopped, his body shook, as if his legs were weak, and he fell to the ground.

　　"Is there poison in the alcohol?!" Cao Tianlin stood up with difficulty, holding on to the table next to him.

　　As soon as the voice fell, before the guests could panic, someone said calmly: "It's not poison, it's just an anesthetic. It just tells you not to run around... It's not harmful to the human body."

　　Suddenly, the entire palace fell silent, and everyone looked in the direction where the sound came from. Then, they were stunned.

　　It turned out that the person who spoke was actually Crown Prince Yang Zhi, who was supposed to be in charge of dispatching food and logistics in the capital!

　　Pang Jun looked coldly at Yang Zhi in the hall at this time. He was indeed a barking dog. He was usually silent, as if he had been enduring the suppression of King Zhao, but in the blink of an eye, he did such a shocking thing tonight.

　　Most of the guests felt so weak that they couldn't even stand up. They thought it was just a sequelae of excessive drinking, but they didn't expect that drugs were put into the drinks.

　　"Prince... why?" Yang Shao glanced at the officials who were still standing in the hall, including Grand Tutor Nie Xingyan, all of whom were core members of the prince's party. On the contrary, Zheng Yinglin, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who had always been regarded as the prince's most loyal subordinate, was not among them. Even though he thought that the fire that Qin Wanjun mentioned might be caused by someone sneaking in to assassinate him, he did not expect that it would be his own son who wanted to rebel!

　　"Why? Father, I just want to fight for what I deserve." Yang Zhi stared at Yang Shao and said slowly.

　　"What do you deserve? What do you deserve? What you deserve is given by me. If I don't give it to you, then it's not what you deserve." The expression on the emperor's face slowly faded.

　　"So, I have to fight for what I think I deserve!" As soon as Yang Zhi finished speaking, the doors around the palace opened, and a large number of soldiers poured in from outside. The leader was a general in armor, who was Ji Rao, the head of the Prince's East Palace Sixth Guard. Yang Zhi walked towards where Yang Shao was step by step, "Father, do you know that I have always had a dream, what is it?"

　　Yang Shao narrowed his eyes and looked at his son, and said, "Oh? So my son has something else that can be called a dream besides ruling the world?"

　　Yang Zhi walked in front of Yang Shao, turned his head and looked at Tang Yulin who was standing beside him, then instructed the two maids: "Come here, the queen is tired, help her down to rest."

　　As soon as these words came out, everyone present looked extremely strange. It turned out that the prince had always coveted the queen's beauty and even had an affair with her! Yang Shao's face suddenly sank, and he glanced at Tang Yulin.

　　Yang Zhi said: "More than ten years ago, the vicious woman Nan Xiangwu ordered her to push me into the pond in the imperial garden. She saved my life and protected me from being harmed again. It was the first time I discovered that besides my frail mother, there was another woman in this cold palace who truly cared about me. So after my mother passed away, she became my only dream. She is the person I swear to protect all my life." As he spoke, he reached out his hand to touch Tang Yulin's beautiful face.

　　However, Tang Yulin did not dodge or evade, but looked straight ahead expressionlessly and said, "Prince, if you dare to touch me, I will bite my tongue and commit suicide immediately. I mean what I say."

　　Yang Zhi's hand stopped in mid-air. He didn't expect Tang Yulin's attitude to be so strong. He smiled bitterly and said, "Why are you doing this? Father has been greedy for the beauty of Nan's aunt and niece for many years. He is not as good as Qingning Palace. You are still trying so hard to protect such a cold husband?"

　　At this time, Tang Yulin looked at Yang Zhi and said calmly, "What does it have to do with you?"

　　Yang Shao couldn't help laughing at the side: "Hahahahahahahahahahaha, my good son, you not only covet my world, but also my woman. Aren't you very tolerant? You have been patient for so many years, why don't you continue to be patient? One day, I will ride the dragon to heaven, and you will sit on the throne. Whether it is this world or her, won't they all be yours?"

　　"Hmph, is that so? My father," Yang Zhi said disdainfully, "Don't think that I don't know. Although you have been favoring the two vixens, the Nan family aunt and nephew, for many years, in your heart, there will always be only my mother, right? According to your possessiveness, once you feel that your end is near, you will definitely drag her to be buried with you! You are just like Uncle Wei, both of you are romantic and only love women with the surname Tang, but Uncle is more real than you, unlike you, who needs the Nan family aunt and nephew to cover it up."

　　"Humph," Yang Shao snorted coldly, and did not directly answer Yang Zhi's question. Instead, he looked at Nie Xingyan on the other side and said, "Nie Xingyan, Nie Xingyan, I have treated you well over the years, is this how you repay me?"

　　The old and frail Nie Xingyan said: "I am repaying your majesty. Your majesty is old and doing evil things. There are enemy chieftains outside, and nobles inside are rebelling. If this continues, my Great Jin Dynasty will be destroyed by your majesty. I have received your majesty's kindness, but I have no way to repay you. I can only work hard day and night to save my Great Jin Dynasty from danger. And the prince is the key to saving my Great Jin Dynasty from danger!"

　　"So that's why you went to the trouble of finding the so-called leader of the so-called 'Tianyi Religion', 'Xuanzhen Daohuang', and asked him to create some trouble. Or even that group of people were simply dogs trained by you, Nie Xingyan, and Yang Zhi? You let King Zhao leave here with 50,000 elite troops, just for today?" Yang Shao had figured out most of the details at this point.

　　At this time, Nie Xingyan did not directly answer Yang Shao's question, but said: "Your Highness, please do not waste time and cut the Gordian knot."

　　Yang Zhi nodded and waved his hand, and a team of people rushed towards the emperor.

　　"Do you really think it's so easy to kill me?"

　　As soon as Yang Shao finished speaking, a cold atmosphere suddenly emerged in the palace, and a gray afterimage rushed straight to where Yang Zhi and Nie Xingyan were, and it moved as fast as lightning. In an instant, it had killed the two of them. However, before everyone could react, a warm and peaceful atmosphere appeared from the other side, dispersing the cold air in the palace. Then there was a "bang" sound, and the air rushed out. Yang Zhi and Nie Xingyan hurriedly retreated several feet.

　　When the airflow stopped, two more figures appeared in the middle of the hall. One was wearing eunuch clothes, hunched over, and seemed to be watching ants walking on the ground, while the other was wearing linen clothes. His feet were bare, and his linen pants hung down to his ankles, not covering his untouched feet. He had a bald head, and the wrinkles on his forehead revealed a peaceful aura. Most of the people present knew that the one wearing eunuch clothes was probably one of the top ten masters on the Heavenly Ranking, the emperor's personal attendant, Hong Wantong, but who was this old monk?

　　Old eunuch Hong looked at the old monk with cloudy eyes for a long time before he said, "Greetings to the Living Buddha."

　　It was only then that everyone realized that the old monk was actually the number one master in Xidi and one of the top ten masters on the Heavenly Ranking, the Living Buddha with Lotus Hands!